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Come on and join author Melissa Bradley as she sets off on her latest adventure...

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If you are not 18, please exit stage left. While there is normally nothing naughty here, I do write and review erotica so there are links to spicy stuff and the occasional heated excerpt.

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

A To Z Chicago...B is for Biograph Theater and IWSG

The Biograph today

Day 2 of the Big A to Z and I'm kicking it old school gangster style with a visit to the infamous Biograph Theater on :Lincoln Avenue. It opened in 1914 and remained a movie house until 2001. Now it houses the Victory Gardens Theater Group and is the site of live performances. In May of 1984 it was added to the National Registry of Historic Places and became an official Chicago landmark on March 28, 2001.

The Biograph attained notoriety in gangland history when on July 22, 1934 Public Enemy Number One, bank robber, John Dillinger, attended a performance of Manhattan Melodrama with the Lady in Red, Anna Sage. He was gunned down outside by FBI agents led by Melvin Purvis. In 2008, while filming the movie Public Enemies, the theater and all the immediate surrounding businesses were redressed to look as they did on that night. I was fortunate enough to be able to see movies in the Biograph before it was closed in 2001 and subsequently renovated for live theater. It was a treat and a thrill sitting right near where Dillinger watched his last film. They say his spirit even checks out some of the current productions as the Biograph is on many a Chicago ghost tour.

The Biograph the night Dillinger was shot

Come on to Chitown and I'll take you here as well as some other infamous gangland sites. Happy A to Z ing with my fellow awesome challengers. Click on the image at the top right or here to visit them.

It's also time for the Insecure Writers Support Group. My insecurity this month is boredom. I struggle in the middle of my stories and get really bored with my characters. It's enough to make me scream and dive into a bottle of wine. I get sick of them and really wish they would hurry up and get out of trouble soon so I can move on to another part of the adventure. But it's all my fault that they are stuck!! I also get very bored with edits and rewrites sometimes. I just want to put the story away and never look at it again. Do you all ever get bored with your writing? I feel like a loser here.

24 comments:

Theater is a hundred years old now. Cool you saw a movie there before it switched to live performances.I'm more bored with the first part - I pick up steam as I write. Although my current one has been a struggle because I've not had the time to devote hours a day to it, so I'm behind.

I'm having the same problem - struggling with my WIP because I'm bored and irritated with it. I keep feeling like I can't get to the fun stuff I have in my head because I'm stuck on laying the groundwork.

I like old historic buildings. They have such atmosphere, and stories to tell. As for my writing, I do get stuck sometimes, but I get more frustrated with it then bored. I, too, want to hurry up and get to the good stuff.

I think all writers struggle with losing focus in the middle of the book. You generally know how it's going to begin and end. But maintaining tension, breaking tension, creating new fresh complications... it's not easy. Editing is hard. It really is. Good luck!

Loving your posts about Chicago. And as for my writing, I get impatient. I'm very much an Instant Gratification girl. So, it isn't that I get bored. I would much rather snap my fingers and have it all out on paper.

A To Z 2014

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